Tea, Mr Edgeworth?
by still.looking
Summary: "Earl Grey or Darjeeling?" Edgeworth calls on Phoenix, but a little girl with a pink top hat invites him in. Pre-AJ, spoilers for AJ final case. Also includes P/E friendship. Important announcement inside :p


**Spoilers for the final case of AJ.**

This is a story set pre-AJ, post-T&T. I warn you now, it's kind of random. Another one of those writing-off-the-top-of-my head things. But hey, they work, right?

By the way, this is my last fic before going on a ten-month long hiatus—I'll be back on March, and briefly on December. Hopefully. XD School awaits.

~ Saguru

* * *

Edgeworth knocked on the all-too-familiar door. He had seen it in the days when a shiny silver plaque read 'Wright and Co. Law Offices', and when the one who would wrench open the door was a hyperactive girl with a topknot and unusual clothes.

Today, a completely different sign hung on a rusty nail, colorful and childish: 'Wright Talent Agency'. It was lopsided. Edgeworth tried looking closer to see some further dents while waiting for the door to open, when it did. He jumped back.

At first, he didn't see anyone who opened the door for him. Then, making sense of things, he looked down and spotted a pink top hat.

"Hello, good sir, how may I help you?" A little girl smiled politely up at him.

"Er, I was looking for Wright. If he isn't around, though, I'll just—"

"No!" the little girl with the top hat said. Edgeworth turned around in surprise. "Um, I mean…" she drew her cape around herself, a universal gesture of discomfort. "Daddy said if anyone with a ruffly thing around his neck came, to let them inside and make them tea… He says he's away for just a while. Actually, he just left, so…" Trucy spotted Edgeworth again, and returned from her thoughts. "Please come inside, sir! I can make you tea."

_Curse you, Wright, it's a cravat. And are these really that rare?_

As he came inside, he looked around and remarked that it was even messier than usual.

This was the second of his visits to Wright after his disbarment—during the first, they had had a discussion of Wright's dismissal. Skipping over the finer details, the former defense attorney had been coping exceptionally well—he said it was because of his adopted daughter, Trucy Enigmar.

Trucy had, at that time, gone to school, so she hadn't met Miles Edgeworth yet.

Now, looking at the little brown-haired girl with a pink outfit, he assumed she was Trucy Enigmar. Or rather, Trucy Wright.

"Earl Grey or Darjeeling?" Trucy asked.

"Darjeeling, thank you."

Two things struck him as odd: the table on which she was preparing the tea looked dangerously unstable. But she handled it like it was a regular, sturdy table, and he was impressed.

The second thing was that she offered him two choices, but she only had one teapot. She sniffed it, poured a small amount, and handed it to Edgeworth.

"Can you tell me which of the two is that? I have a hard time telling. Sorry."

Albeit surprised, Edgeworth complied. "Earl Grey."

He handed back the cup. The little girl grinned widely. "I'd like to show you a magic trick!"

Before he could say a word, Trucy covered the cup with her hat and removed it. She did the same with the teapot.

"Drink up!" she instructed cheerfully.

He sipped the exquisite taste of Darjeeling. He lowered the cup with an impressed look on his face that Phoenix would pay to see. "That was… magical."

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Trucy Wright, magician extraordinaire!"

"Miles Edgeworth, prosecuting attorney," he replied. "I was a friend of your—er, father's… when he was still young. And also when he was a rookie attorney."

"I've heard about you," she said, her eyes twinkling. _I can't believe something as lovable as her ended up the daughter of someone like Wright. _"Daddy says you were a really mean attorney, but then you saw the error of your ways and turned good! How did you do that, Mr. Edgeworth?"

Afraid of how much she would tell Wright, Edgeworth weighed his options. In all honesty, the fact that crybaby Phoenix had grown up to become a lawyer just for him and then helped him find his path was downright embarrassing.

Again, Trucy picked up on that and backed down.

"Sorry," she mumbled, "My other Daddy always said I poke my nose into other people's business."

Edgeworth looked up. "I'm sorry about your father. Wr—Phoenix told me what happened." The sound of Phoenix's name on his tongue sounded weird—how long had it been since he'd called him by that name?

"Oh, Daddy'll come back," Trucy said. "He said he would, when the time is right. But for now, I've got Daddy!"

_Which Daddy was that again?_

There was a knocking on the door, and Phoenix opened it. He surveyed the room, seeing Trucy and Edgeworth on the couch.

"Daddy!"

The magician bounced up to hug Phoenix's leg, and pointed at Edgeworth. "Daddy, it's the guy with the ruffly thing!" She pouted, and put her hands on her hips. "That's rude, Daddy. You could have just told me his name."

"Well, you have to admit, the cravat is more distinct." Phoenix had a small teasing grin on his face, pointed right at Edgeworth.

"Just like your spikes." Edgeworth didn't mean that witty retort to slip on front of Trucy, but it was done. He got what he wanted, though. Phoenix had a you're-dead-later look on his face.

Trucy wasn't making it any easier; she smiled and told Phoenix, "Yeah, Daddy, but don't worry, it's awesome."

"So, what's up, Edgeworth?" Phoenix said finally, sitting down across from him.

"Just checking up, making sure you're still in one piece…" he said nonchalantly. He and Wright had been more open towards each other lately. A lot of credit went to the disbarment, for some odd reason.

They spent most of the time talking about the future, trying to make their conversation suitable for an eight-year-old. Trucy sat on Phoenix's lap contentedly, taking off her hat so it didn't keep hitting Phoenix in the eye.

Phoenix noticed that Edgeworth looked at Trucy a lot. His fatherly instincts were suspicious, but this was Edgeworth—he looked at Trucy with something of a fondness.

Night fell; Trucy excused herself and sprang to the next room to watch a TV show. As soon as she turned up the volume to an intelligible level, Edgeworth said in a low voice, "She's wonderful."

"I know. She's everything to me."

"It's surprising how she has an idiot like you as a father," Edgeworth said flatly. Phoenix smiled, knowing his ways.

"Takes some getting used to. She's like Maya, only smaller. They talk about the same."

"How's she been keeping?"

"Being Master of Kurain wasn't as bad as she expected, apparently. Pearly's been a big help. But I've been tasked to keep track of the Steel Samurai specials they've been showing…"

Phoenix didn't see, but the corner of Edgeworth's mouth twitched upwards. Both of them listened to Trucy squeal in delight as the opening credits rolled.

The silence between them, had it been a year ago, would have been very awkward. Rival defense attorney and prosecutor rarely ever sat together sipping tea in one's house.

Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth were different. True, a sliver of rivalry remained between them—but, as Edgeworth had pointed out a few years prior, both attorneys must work together to find the truth, whatever the verdict may be. To bring the true criminal to justice, to acquit the innocent.

"Hey, maybe I can retake the bar and become a prosecutor like you. And you can become a defense attorney!"

"No, Wright."

"Seriously, it'd be awesome! Come on, let's try it out. I can take the bar as soon as possible, I'm sure everything's intact. You can grab the Canadian judge and we can have Gumshoe pick out a really simple case of… what d'you want? Assault and battery?"

"_No,_ Wright."

His appearance contradicted his words—Phoenix was sure he was hiding a smile.

* * *

Sorry for the anticlimactic ending. I did say it was random, right? :/

Why I wrote this:

- I wanted to write Edgey meeting Trucy

- Show what happened to Maya and Pearl

- Show that Phoenix and Edgeworth are no longer awkward around each other. This'll take a long time, but hey, I can dream.

- Have Phoenix suggest the whole switching thing. :D

There are several other hidden meanings in the story, have fun finding them ;) :P See you all in March :D

~ Saguru


End file.
